The conventional surgical method used for the ablation of organs consists in making a relatively long cut, operating as needed on the ailing organ, then suturing.
For suturing purposes, ever increasing use is being made of clipping devices instead of hand stitching.
One device for applying suture clips is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,695.
This device comprises a fixed jaw and a mobile jaw, with the mobile jaw being pivotally mounted adjacent its rear end to the corresponding free end of a receiving structure in which the fixed jaw is housed.
These two jaws may be locked relative to one another by means of a handle pivotally mounted to the median part of the mobile jaw and which is able, by means of cam-forming openings to engage on lateral tenons solid with the receiving structure.
However, this known device is not entirely satisfactory because it is so dimensioned as to be usable in a laparotomy (i.e. open procedure) which often necessitates long cuts that may leave extended scars.
For this type of operation, it is now preferred to use the so-called endoscopy technique (laparascopy, thorascopy, etc.).
This operating technique consists in making several orifices that are as small as possible, for example in the abdominal wall, using a trocar, inserting gripping or observation instruments such as an endoscope in some of these orifices, then inserting one or several surgical instruments in the other orifices, all of these instruments being slidably received through tubes passing from the outer wall to the ailing organ.
This technique enables the length of the cut to be considerably reduced. But its application is limited due to the lack of a suitable miniaturized instrument. Also, it requires great dexterity on the part of the surgeon, and rather long operating times.